Here are more info on Xiaomi’s Mijia Sphere 360 camera, launched a few weeks ago on April 6, which is on sale at GearBest for a limited time.
Update: here is my full review.
About 3 weeks ago, Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi Mijia Sphere 360 camera while Yi announced a 360 camera a few days ago. Â Xiaomi and Yi, who used to be partners for the Xiaomi Yi action camera, are therefore now directly competing with each other. Â Much of the attention is now on Yi, with its 5.7K resolution, but the Xiaomi Mijia Sphere should not be overlooked. Â Here is some more information about it:
– two 190-degree lenses, with f/2.0 aperture
– video resolution: 3456 x 1728Â @ 30 fps; 2304 x 1152Â @ 60fps or 30fps.
– photo resolution: 6912 x 3456
– ISO can be manually set from ISO 50 to 1600 in 1-stop increments
– Shutter speed can be manually set up to “8” (I hope this means up to 8 seconds?)
– 6-axis electronic image stabilization (3-axis gyro and 3-axis acceloremeter)
– IP67 water resistance
– the Xiaomi Mijia Sphere has lenses that are close to each other, reducing parallax stitching error
My friend Roman Goldman (rec360.ru) has the Mijia and he showed me some samples that looked quite smooth. Â Here are his first impressions:
“Cool camera, I like it. I like the quality of photos and videos, in the coming days I will make good photos and videos in the city and I can send. Â The camera is made of high-quality materials, very low parallax due to the narrow housing. The camera records a good sound, very demanding on memory cards (at least 10 class). For 10 minutes shooting has strongly heated up, I will spend the stress test, probably at it the same problem as at Gear360 with an overheat. I tested the camera on the smartphone Mi, you need to try other smartphones on the Andriod, because my phone hangs up very much. The application has a built-in video editor, but due to a weak smartphone it does not work. The camera is not localized to the world market, as long as it is exclusively a Chinese product. The application is in English, but the box and instruction are only in Chinese, I can not figure out where to download the video stitching software. I believe that this is a worthy competitor to most of the cameras, including Gear360 2017.
Regarding the price, the Mijia Sphere is supposed to have a street price of around $270 but perhaps due to demand or other factors, the street price is higher, around $325 or more. Â Here is one from banggood, a major online retailer in China ($324):
GearBest seems to have one of the lower prices at the moment. Â It’s currently on sale for $285Â with free shipping to the US, only until May 1.
For reference, the normal price at GearBest is $320 or higher, depending on the demand and available inventory.
There are some China-based vendors on Aliexpress who are selling it for a few dollars less, but I like buying from GearBest because they are a larger, reputable store with several distribution centers across the world (not just in China).
Update:Â here is my full review. Â Â Please consider buying from the GearBest affiliate link here, which would support 360 Rumors at no additional cost to you.
Thank you very much to Roman Goldman (rec360.ru) for sharing his first impressions and to tech vlogger Pepe Vazquez for the additional information and specifications!
You know, I might get this camera. The photo resolution is better than anything I have right now, and will be better than the Yi camera that I hope to get in June. And the distance between the lenses could mean good stitching.
Hi Martin. If your interest is photo, you may want to wait until Monday. 🙂
Best regards,
Mic
What is happening on Monday? Is it the launch of the new LG 360 camera?
I will only buy this camera if it has an intervalometer or works with Google Street View or Open Spherical Camera API. Any ideas?
I don’t know if it has intervalometer or if it can be controlled by the GSV app. I will try when I receive it.
Best regards,
Mic
Thanks, I thought photo resolution was 6912*3456 ?
Hi Adam! Yes you’re right! thanks for catching the typo!
Best regards,
Mic
Hi! Do you have any accessories for this camera? Waterproof case, remote control?
Thank you so much! I cant find to buy.
Hi Wendel. I recommend this case: https://360rumors.com/2017/06/lens-cap-camera-case-xiaomi-mijia-mi-sphere-3-5k-360-panoramic-camera.html For waterproof case, you can use this smartphone waterproof pouch: https://360rumors.com/2017/05/xiaomi-updates-mi-sphere-ios-app-pc-software-rumor-stabilized-underwater-360-video.html
Remote control is still to come.
Best regards,
Mic
What are the Xiaomi recommended tf cards for the sphere?
For those interested in my question.
Do take note that normal Class 10 SD card unable to support, you need to get a U3 specification Micro SD card with speed at least up to 90mb/s
Recommended Storage Cards:
SONY U3 16G
SANDISK EXTREME U3 32G
SANDISK PRO U3 32G
Kingston U3 32G Scarlet Letter
Kingston U3 32G blue word
LEXAR 1000X U3 32G
LEXAR 633X 32G
Genesis U3 V30 32G